Sorting machine



May 14, 1929. NICKLE I: 1,712,838

' SORTING'MACHINE Filed Sept. :50, 1925 '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR May 14, 1929. F. H. NICKLE 1,712,838

' SORTING MACHINE 1 Filed Sept. 50 1925 .2 sheets-sheet 2 IN VEN TOR Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED STATES FRANK H. NIGKLE, OF SAGJNAW, ldICl-IIGAN.

SORIING IVLACHINE.

Application filed September This invention relates to machines for sorting or classifying globular particles of materials, seeds, etc. and especially for separatinn the culls dirh etc. from beans. It relates particularly to machines of the type indicated in. which the beans i 'e :led upon sorting rot is which pass the culls bu t do not pass the choice beans.

In the convintional bran picker, sortini g' rolls of rubber are used and are incline h so that when beans are fed to the trough oi the rolls at the upper end thereof the culls pass between the rolls, but the good beans Will travel downward due to the action of gravity. The inclination of the rolls largely determines the quality oil? the picking and likewise the capacity of the machine. Should the in clination be too great, the eiliciency oi? the picking greatly impaired. because the beans acquire so great a speed that they tend to bound or Vibrate ii'roln side to side in the trough oi? the rolls. In this manner alarge percentage of the detective beans inay tr: rel the entire length ot the rolls Without making; sin'iultaneous contact with the moving; surttaces ct both rolls so to be :aug'ht and d awn tliru. It the inclination of the sorting; rolls is reduced so that they are nearly level. the quality out the picking; will be materially improved, but the capacity Will be curtailed to such an extend that the operation oi? the Hidchine may not prove profit-able.

The present invention has among its obcts to overcome the diiiic .it'zs just inch one l a nd to operate the "ls at their nnatt e'lliciency in sortin without materially e ireasin their capa y.

Another object is the :tecding oi? the beans to the rolls in r-zinnle file and so as not to cause them to rehound from the surface thereof.

Another object is to erase the beans to rotate in contact with the sorting rolls in such :lashion as to i iresent thereto every portion oil? their sinfitaces so that a bean having; only a sn'iall spot will be thrown out as a. call.

Still another object is the elimination, before the actual. sorting, of grit, slnall fragnents and the like.

l t 'ith these and other objects in View as will more celarly appear from the following description, the invention consists broadly in a device of the kind indicated in which the rolls operate in a horizontal position upon the beans ted singly thereto and the latter Serial No. 59,461.

. l J I largi-rd diagra innatic vie v ot a set oil: rolls corresponding to Fig. 2. h in. 4: a fragmentary plan View oi? the rolls and iieedii'ig mechanism with the hopper removed. Fig. 5 is a fraginentary side elevation showinoj parts ot the feed mechanism in sec ion.

Referring to Fig. 1. ot the (ii-airings. l is a :trznne whict supports a hopper 2 adapted to receive beans or other ohjcctsto be sorted. 'l o which delivers the beans thru a suitable feeding; nieci anisni to sortinn; roll tails of which are hereinatter iully l t "hen power is applied to the pulley rolls eiliect a sop tion ot the do ictire and the choice beans which descend, by e'raritv t-l ru independent passageways surrounded by he jacket 5 which has outlet spouts 6 and l" l he do the bottom of the hopper attachet a chute 1: respectively for culls and choice heathlrteterring to .Fie's. 2 t

side rolls El and the two inside mils 5) ilioriii two pairs oi? sorting rolls which are made coacting by mean of the spur k, are 1th the directiiiin of rotation being; as iiidicated by the arronw. The outside and inside rolls are mounted on spindl e: 11 and 12 respectively which 2 re likewise jtnnrnaied in bcariinis litand iii. The li iari uni-i are supported by iiieans ot studs 10 which project tron] tin; traine. Resilient means, such as conil'nfession spring xs 17, hold the outside and inside bearings any desired. distanc apart when the nuts l8 are adjusted.

Centrally located over the two inside roll-'2 is a reservoir or teed he); .20 which receives beans from. the chute. This teed box is supand 5, the two outported indepeneently of the rolls, the iowcr 1i1t1l1111l edges of the Vertical walls being" made to conform elos ly to the contour oi? thl rolls so .s to form a hean-ti compartmen with. too pairs of opposed teed openings 21 thru which theheans are delivered to ti o sorting rolls. There heii'ip; no bottom in the feed box, the beans descend directly upon the rapidly moving surfaces of the ii side rolls, and to the beans in intimate contact tl'ierewith there is imparted a lively agitation or rolling-over movement which tends to sweep them forward in opposite directions out through the feed openings. To control the tendency of the beans to flood thru the feed openings, it is found necessary to provide compensating gauges 22 which function as valves automatically opening and closing to permit the beans to flow single file regardless of the size or shape. These gauges are loosely suspended u, .1 the confines of the feed box at right angles to the rolls by'means of the thumb screws 23, which protrude up thru loosely fitting holes in the cover portion 24 of the feed box. The ends of the gauges enter the opposed feed openings so that no beans can pass thru into the trough of the sorting rolls without passing between the under side of one end of the gauge and the adjacent roll. The side walls of the feed box are provided with V-shaped tongues 25 which, in co-operation with the rapidly moving rolls, tend to force or crowd the beans underneath the compensatinggauges. Vhen a bean is caught between the roll and the underside of one of the gauges, the weight of the gauge presses the been down upon the rapidly moving surface of the roll, thereby imparting a forward rolling. movement which quickly carries the bean out the feed opening. As theisize and shape of the beans varies considerably, the gauges must be fitted to raise up and down freely in order to maintain a uniform pressure uponthe beans rolling under them. In this manner the beans are fed one at a time'thru the feed openings, the

flow being steady andthe peripheral velocity of the beans approaching that of the rapidly moving surface of the roll in contact there with.

After the beans reach the trough of the sorting rolls, the split, flat, rough, soft and undersize beans are quickly caught and drawn thru the rolls from which they gravitate to the passageway having an inclined bottom 31 leading to the spout'6.

The choice beans, which resist the gripping action of the sorting rolls, are conveyed longitudinally in the trough of the rolls in opposite directions by means of a combined rightand left hand wire helix 32 having the neutral point 33 midway between the feed openings. Referring to. Fig. 3, it will be seen that the wire helix is seated in the trough of the rolls so that it makes contact with the outside roll 8 at point 34 and the inside roll 9 at point 35.. WVith the rolls rotating in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows, the helix will not rotate unless means is provided to counteract the negative friction due to one of the rolls. By means of a novel mechanical movement, the wire helix is made to rotate in a positive manner and in a predetermined direction, the driving force being derived from the auxiliary friction roll 36, which is mounted so as to be jointly supported by the outside sorting roll 8 and the wire helix, the points of rolling contact being 37 and 38 respectively. lVhen so supported, the clockwise rotation of the outside roll will cause the auxiliary roll to be driven connterclockwise and in turn will tend to drive the wire helix in a clockwise direction. The helix will rotate freely because it is under the influence of two positive rolling contacts which more than countcrbalances the retarding effect of frictional contact with the outside roll.

The pitch of the wire helices should be great enough to allow a bean to lie lengthwise in the trougl'i of the sort-ing rolls, and to permit the bean to roll end over end as it is conveyed forward by helicoidal action. This rolling-over movement is very essential, as it materially improves the efficiency of the picking, because all sides of the bean are brought in intimate contact with the gripping surfm'cs of the sorting rolls. After traveling in this manner to the end of the rolls, the beans drop down the passageways 3S) and 40 to the inclined plate 41 leading to the outlet 7 for choice beans.

At the ends of each pair of sorting rolls is a vertical plate 42 from which projects a horizontal pin 43 which enters the end of the wire helix a short distance so as to hold the helix in operative position in the trough of the rolls so it will not jump out of place in case it encounters a stone or other foreign matter larger than beans.

Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the inside sorting rolls 9 and 9 are spaced apart to provide sufficient clearance it (see F i g. 2) to permit undersized beans, split beans, small lumps of dirt and fine grit to drop down into the passageway 30 and out with the culls. This provides an effective way of grading and cleaning the beans to eliminate beans or particles that are sn'iallcr than normal beans.

In the foregoing, reference is had to the conventional. rubbercovcrc l bean sorting rolls. In this invention, is has been found that the combination of a metal roll with a rubber-covered roll, to form a pair of soifing rolls, is desirable. If the metal roll is placed on the outside, or underneath the auxiliary friction roll, it greatly increases the driving power of the wire helix, because the retarding effect of the outside roll is materially rcduccd, the coeflicient of friction of a smooth metal roll being much less than that of a rubber roll. This arrangement of a metal roll in conjunction with a rubber roll also provides a means for rotating the beans about their major axis as they lie in the trough of the sorting rolls, the direction of rotation being concurrent with that of the wire helix.

This improves the quality of the sorting, because a small defective spot on a bean is more surely brought lIl intimate contact with the loo llll 

